1. Field of the Invention
The present application is directed to a pressure clamp for a telecommunications closure, preferably a telecommunications closure which contains circuit cards and electronic components thereon such as microprocessors, and also preferably includes either optical fiber or copper wire drops, or both.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various closures have been proposed in the prior art for enclosing electronic components associated with optical fiber systems designed to delivery either voice, video, and/or data information to end users, the closures also typically including optical fiber and electrical twisted wire and sometimes electrical coaxial cables. It is essential that such closures be water tight so that deployment in underground environments will not allow water to come in contact with the optical fiber cable and electronic components, and water tight closures are also preferable in above-ground, i.e. pedestal, applications.
Prior art pressure clamps for clamping and creating a seal between first and second parts of a telecommunications closure utilize a nut and bolt arrangement whereby the clamp is tightened by torquing the nut to get an apparent mechanical advantage of the pitch of bolt threads to enable a clamp to be tightened without an inordinate amount of work by a craftsperson. Such prior art clamps are disadvantageous since they require tools, are not particularly user friendly, and there is a substantial amount of uncertainty when tightening the nut as to when sufficient clamp pressure has been generated so as to result in a water tight seal and also result in an arrangement whereby the pressure is still low enough to prevent mechanical parts of the clamp from being unduly stressed which can result in premature failure of the clamp. Furthermore, prior art clamps are generally made of metal and hence are subject to corrosion, and are relatively expensive. Finally, prior art clamps generally utilize clamp legs which have an angled interior surface equal to or greater than 20.degree. which slidingly engages a mating confronting surface of the closure parts. Though such large angles result in requiring minimum movement of the clamp when tightening the nut to generate sufficient clamp pressure, such large angles are disadvantageous since in low temperature conditions the closure parts tend to contract radially creating a significant possibility that pat of the seal generated by the clamp may be broken on a side of the clamp from which the closure parts retract.